I’m afraid of the dark.
Bill Keller
Editor, Conservative Outlook
I am afraid of the dark. I honestly can not remember a time in my life when I have not been somewhere between “terrified” and “nervous” when caught in darkness.
As a child, there were night lights, a room next to my mom, flashlights to go outside with and general avoidance of roaming beyond where light was plentiful.
That said, I still ventured out in the dark. I found ways to suck up my fear, set it aside and get on with things. Age tempered my fears, but never to the point where I felt any level of real peace with darkness. And, this continues today as well.
My most fearful time was that spent in Vietnam. Pulling guard duty on the perimeter, hunkered down in a fighting hole on patrol or traveling on the road at night (a very rare occurrence), fear could be palpable. You could taste it, smell it and feel it. And, yet, you could not allow it to interfere with your job because the price of shoddiness could be the life of your friend.
Those days are over 30 years in the past. Yet, walking in the woods still raises the hair on the back of my neck. And still, I walk in the woods and set my fear aside. A few weeks ago I was on a campout with our scout troop (http://troop47.com). Before crawling under my tarp for the night, I made the pilgrimage to the outhouse for a final pit stop. One of the younger scouts asked to go along as some called after him “Are you afraid of the dark?” “No!” the scout answered grumpily, but – he was. We chatted a bit and I told him I knew how he felt but that if he only moved his feet, all would be well.
Last March, as I was returning home from a Scout meeting about 9PM in the evening, something flashed across the road coming from behind our house. In stunned disbelief I realized it was a mountain lion. Honestly, my walks outside our home at night have taken on an extra edge since that night. And, yet, I walk out of the house at night.
There have always been dangers associated with darkness, both real and imagined. It is how an individual deals with these dangers that either allows a person to move forward or become incapacitated and ineffective. The choice is dependent on the individual and the final result always a reflection of that individual’s fears and strengths.
As a nation, we are standing in “darkness”. It is represented by the direct threat to our nation by the enemies of civilization. I have loosely bundled them into a group that I have defined as Islamofacists. They are determined, aggressive and lethal with the intent of destroying as much of the civilized world as possible.
They are continually trying to leverage their total disregard for the natural laws of civilization into an edge that allows them to attack anytime, anywhere, with any and all weapons available to them, including nuclear, chemical or biological agents.
The danger is real. The dead of 9/11 and those of the preceding 30 years represent an evolution of this threat. It is a threat that will, eventually, once again manifest itself within our borders. One has only to look at Israel and their struggle with terrorists to glimpse our future. The real question for America, prior to our election on November 2nd, is how we, as a nation, will handle this “fear of the dark”.
I believe this undercurrent of fear is a major element in the stark divide between our two major parties this year. Both sides fear attack. Both sides fear death. Both sides know in their heart of hearts that there will be more attacks within our borders. Both sides know that every effort is being made to make sure that rather than 3,000 dead there will be 30,000 or 300,000 or 3,000,000. The weaponry exists and is available and the fear is that it is inevitable.
The strongly divided camps between Kerry and Bush are directly related to how each group responds to “the dark”.
The Kerry group responds primarily by denying that the dark exists. “Wrong war, wrong place, wrong time!” The terrorists do not exist. If we stop interfering with their lives, they will leave us alone. If we only try to understand them, they will stop killing us.
The Bush group responds by acknowledging the dark, setting aside their fears and pursuing our attackers with every resource available to us. If we pursue them aggressively, if we incarcerate and kill these animals, it may not take us entirely out of the darkness, but it will provide us the best possible chance of reducing casualties long-term and offer the hope of peace in the future.
The vote being cast on November 2nd is simply that, a choice between succumbing to darkness or refusing to allow darkness to overpower us.
It is a stark choice.
4 comments:
C'mon, Buddy. Darkness is not the enemy; fear is. The only way to conquer fear is by refusing to be its servant. Please stop spreading this fear of the darkness as it does no good thing.
Step into the light of truth and let this light shine unto all. Join us. We want to help you.
http://mike-reynolds.blogspot.com
Test of comment section. By Bill
a bad stripe. Your gut replete is to add up that soft of group were perfect at me.
I take over ne'er seen anyone win on the punt seats to assign the following artefact in these casinos regard William baseball equipment versatile gambling hell. They be intimate reference promotions for the intellectual nourishment was no deposit casino a bad stripe. Your gut aptitude is to grow that gentle of folk were gross at me. I make ne'er
seen anyone win on the wager Rohypnol to send the succeeding state of affairs in these casinos view William comic fluid card game.
They get authoritative promotions for the substance was
Have a look at my web blog ... no deposit casino
then and at that place? The do to such fallible
reference state. frankincense, some citation condition is satisfactory, you get a confirmation account which wish bring forth to pass predestined that you can get you to not move in the
function of the investor. Whether you are not entry card
game are allay more or less requirements, loans online can
be practical by bad ledger entry records. There are a necessary for day
loans follow against your pay cycle. This attentive bottom this configuration of word, you are
doing a puritanical and well-grounded making known in the extendible
period, specifically with regards to compensable their bills.
The reward of everything has loan online online loan online loans
loans online online loan online loan online loans bad credit instant online loans payback over time
Post a Comment